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OPPONENT FOUND FOR DEMETRIUS ANDRADE

Opponent found for Demetrius Andrade

By Dan RafaelESPN.com

Junior middleweight prospect Demetrius Andrade is now on his third opponent in three days. He will face Angel Hernandez on this week's edition of "Friday Night Fights" (ESPN2/ESPN3.com, 9 ET) after some last-minute scrambling.

Andrade (15-0, 10 KOs), 23, of Providence, R.I., was supposed to fight Derek "Pooh" Ennis (23-3-1, 13 KOs) in the scheduled 10-round main event at the Mohegan Sun resort in Uncasville, Conn. However, Ennis pulled out on Tuesday because of a high fever.

Matchmaker Ron Katz of Star Boxing, Andrade's co-promoter, quickly replaced him with 1996 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist Terrance Cauthen later in the day.

Cauthen (36-7, 9 KOs), who had trained for a fight on Jan. 21 but had his opponent drop out at the last minute and did not fight, accepted the fight with Andrade, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, and sent back his tax form. However, he never sent back a signed contract and then could not be reached.

That left Katz with little choice but to find a third opponent. He came up with Chicago's 36-year-old Hernandez (30-10, 17 KOs), who was then approved by the network.

Hernandez is an experienced fighter who once lost a lopsided decision challenging then-junior middleweight champion Winky Wright in 2003. However, Hernandez has lost his last three fights and not been in the ring in 11 months.

"We were lucky to get Angel Hernandez, who had been training for a scheduled fight in Chicago, and all of us feel it will be a much more pleasing fight for the viewers to watch," Katz said. "I guess we all have to thank Derek Ennis for this, who still has not sent me a doctor's note. He will be punished to the utmost severity allowed by the commission."